Italy closes with a new Olympic card (the fourth out of five races) their participation in the World Relay Championships in Nassau (Bahamas). The girls of the 4×100 win it (Zaynab Dosso, Dalia Kaddari, Irene Siragusa – sided due to a problem suffered by Anna Bongiorni in the warm-up – and Arianna De Masi), best time of the entire repechage round with a 42.60 which would also have been worth second place in the final.
On the contrary, the race of the men in the fast relay ends with disqualification: the change between Marcell Jacobs and Lorenzo Patta is completed outside the sector, and Italy sees the third place achieved at the finish line vanish (38.13, the time later canceled) behind the United States (37.40) and Canada (37.89). France benefits from this, moving up one place to third place (38.44). After the race it will be Jacobs himself, very honestly, who will take responsibility for the error (the classic “missed hand”, in his words), moreover in a gearbox which, for obvious reasons, had been taken to the extreme limit. Beyond the disqualification, considering that the real objective (Olympic qualification) had already been achieved in the heat, we can only give a positive opinion of the path in the World Relays of the Italian quartet, capable of expressing themselves twice around 38 seconds flat. Roberto Rigali is decent (perhaps a little more effective in the drums), Jacobs and Filippo Tortu are improving, Lorenzo Patta is already well-tested and always reliable.
Fifth place for the men in the 4×400 (Luca Sito, Vladimir Aceti, Edoardo Scotti and Davide Re, 3:01.60), sixth place for the girls in the equivalent women's event (Rebecca Borga, Ayomide Folorunso, Virginia Troiani and Giancarla Trevisan, 3:27.51).
Italy therefore wins four Olympic cards out of the five races scheduled at the World Relays, preceded in this special ranking only by the United States (also four victories in the event!) and Great Britain; with the Azzurri, at four, five other countries: Germany, France, Poland, Nigeria and Jamaica. Only two countries complete the five-circle pass: the United States and Great Britain; the Americans also achieved four successes in the World Relays, with the sole exception of the men's 4×400, which was disqualified in the heat for an irregular exchange.